Last year on July 29, I turned seventeen. I was lucky enough to be in San Diego, California playing on my traveling softball team, “Tulsa Shootout”. We were competing for nationals, with teams all over the United States who had also qualified. The day before my birthday, sadly, we got beat out of the tournament. However, we weren’t about to let that get us down the rest of our trip. On my birthday, my mom had planned to surprise me and take me to do something I have always wanted to do, parasail. It would be so beautiful gliding above the ocean and something I would never forget. Unfortunately, when we got to the business, they were just getting back with other people and said that they would not be able to take anyone else out due to the high winds and the intense waves. They said it would be far too dangerous and was not worth the risk. I was upset because of how excited I was and how high my hopes were, but I knew it was still going to be a great day because I got to be with my best friends; teammates. One of the moms’ called us on saving a fire pit on the beach. She offered to stay there all day until the rest of the team could make it until later that night. If it was not for her, we would not have been able to have or enjoy the wonderful beach bon-fire that we had. We had so much fun roasting hotdogs and making s’mores. We played football in the sand, made sand castles, swam and watched the beautiful sunset. By the time the sun went down we were ready to go back to the hotel to clean up and get in bed.

I am so thankful to get to have got to spend my birthday not only on the beach, but with people I care so much about. I could not have asked for it to go any better.